In all honesty...I think the only reason someone gets married is because of tradition. Matt and I lived together for seven months before we got married. We've been married for almost 4 months and not a whole lot has changed.

Honestly. I got married because I knew Matt was who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and I wanted to "keep him" I guess. It just seemed like the next step. Plus I wanted to get all dressed up and have people shower me with gifts

I just wanted to be a part of Matt's life. Like his family was great and I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted a family with him. Sure I could do that without getting married, but we saw marriage as the "next step". We both wanted to get married, so we did.

I know two couples that have raised perfectly good kids and had a family without ever getting married. It's just all about what you and your partner want really.

I don't understand the aversion to marriage. If you find someone you love who loves you back, what is the big deal? The hard part is already over. I think marriage has earned a bad reputation in a society that stresses individualism over community.

Besides...give me another time when you can tell your closest friends what they HAVE to wear!

I hate brides that do that. I just gave my girls a color and let them pick out a dress that looked good on them. I just bought them the green sashes so they matched. We did tell the boys that they had to order vests in that color though.

Honestly, I think it's almost necessary when one person agrees to take a step back from their career in order to be home more and attend the family (which I'll likely be doing, whether it means caring for my gf and her disease, or if she gets healthy caring for our eventual children). Divorce is largely practical - w/o it the partner who sunk most of their time into the non-income-generating activity of tending the family gets screwed in the arse.

Ms. Piggy wrote:Besides...give me another time when you can tell your closest friends what they HAVE to wear!

I hate brides that do that. I just gave my girls a color and let them pick out a dress that looked good on them. I just bought them the green sashes so they matched. We did tell the boys that they had to order vests in that color though.